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Description: Osteoarthritis (OA) is an incurable disease that has evaded pharmacological interference, biologic therapy or surgical intervention to prevent disease progression. Currently, OA is designated the 11th highest contributor (of 291 diseases) of global disability. In the absence of effective treatment options, cellular therapies using mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) have emerged as potential candidates to overcome this clinical short-coming. Autologous adipose-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (ASCs) are attractive for cellular therapy given the abundance of tissue, high frequency of MSCs and minimally invasive harvest procedure. The EU consortium ADIPOA has shown in a ‘first in man’ 2-centre Phase I safety study that intraarticular injection of a single dose of autologous ASCs to the knee (18 patients, 12 month follow-up) was well-tolerated, had no adverse effects, and resulted in an improvement in pain score and functional outcome.
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Coordinator: NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND GALWAY
Country: Ireland
Description: Considerable challenges remain today regarding Europe´s transition towards a decarbonised energy system that meets the economic and social needs of its citizens. Rebound effects, that is, a full or partial cancelling-out of efficiency gains over time through increased overall energy use, highlight the centrality of consumption in multi-scalar decarbonisation efforts, urgently requiring attention from scientists and policy makers. Calls also abound for innovative, research-led programmes to enhance the social acceptability of energy transition initiatives and technologies. Understanding how culture-specific views and practices and energy policy and governance both shape and reflect individual and collective energy choices is of paramount importance for the success of the Energy Union.
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Coordinator: NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND GALWAY
Country: Ireland
Description: MixedEmotions will develop innovative multilingual multi-modal Big Data analytics applications that will analyze a more complete emotional profile of user behavior using data from mixed input channels: multilingual text data sources, A/V signal input (multilingual speech, audio, video), social media (social network, comments), and structured data. Commercial applications (implemented as pilot projects) will be in Social TV, Brand Reputation Management and Call Centre Operations. Making sense of accumulated user interaction from different data sources, modalities and languages is challenging and has not yet been explored in fullness in an industrial context. Commercial solutions exist but do not address the multilingual aspect in a robust and large-scale setting and do not scale up to huge data volumes that need to be processed, or the integration of emotion analysis observations across data sources and/or modalities on a meaningful level. MixedEmotions will implement an integrated Big Linked Data platform for emotion analysis across heterogeneous data sources, different languages and modalities, building on existing state of the art tools, services and approaches that will enable the tracking of emotional aspects of user interaction and feedback on an entity level. The MixedEmotions platform will provide an integrated solution for: large-scale emotion analysis and fusion on heterogeneous, multilingual, text, speech, video and social media data streams, leveraging open access and proprietary data sources, and exploiting social context by leveraging social network graphs; semantic-level emotion information aggregation and integration through robust extraction of social semantic knowledge graphs for emotion analysis along multidimensional clusters.
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Coordinator: NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND GALWAY
Country: Ireland
Description: Type 2 diabetes will affect >500 million adults by 2040 and its secondary complications will generate enormous socioeconomic costs - in particular, diabetic kidney disease (DKD), which is already the most common cause of chronic kidney disease. DKD is associated with greatly increased mortality and frequently progresses to end stage renal failure. Pharmacotherapy, dialysis and transplantation represent the mainstay treatments for DKD but are costly and provide only limited protection against adverse outcomes. Mesenchymal Stromal Cell (MSC) therapy is a promising approach to halting the progression of DKD toward end-stage renal failure and may also have ancillary
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Coordinator: NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND GALWAY
Country: Ireland
Description: The centrosome is the major microtubule-organizing centre of a cell. It also serves as the base for the primary cilium, an antenna-like structure that allows cells to respond to external stimuli. Around the centrosome lie a number of electron dense cytoplasmic granules, termed centriolar satellites. These are involved in protein trafficking and are crucial for normal centrosome and cilium assembly and function. However, little is known about satellite composition, biogenesis or regulation. Mutations in a number of genes encoding satellite proteins cause ciliopathies, demonstrating their importance in the etiology of disease. Emerging data also shows that satellites contribute to the cellular stress response. The central scientific goal of this proposal is to systematically dissect, for the first time, the molecular mechanisms underpinning centriolar satellite biogenesis and function. Coupling genome-editing and cutting-edge imaging techniques we will perform morphometric quantitative analysis of satellite proteins to delineate their specific role in the cellular response to stress. This project encompasses an Outgoing Phase during which the Fellow will be trained in advanced, high-content, automated, and super-resolution microscopy, and computational analysis to study satellite biogenesis and function. Within this phase a secondment to the biotech sector will occur during which the Fellow will learn cutting-edge DNA manipulation methods. The Return Phase allows the transfer of this knowledge to Europe whilst the Fellow receives training in the analysis of stress responses. Alongside this the Fellow will follow a program of courses to acquire a range of complementary skills, including industry-related skills and teaching qualifications. Together, this will accomplish the overarching objective of developing the Fellow’s career to a position of professional maturity, thereby facilitating her long-term goal of establishing her own independent research group in Europe.
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Coordinator: NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND GALWAY
Country: Ireland
Description: STARSTEM proposes imaging of stem cell engraftment in arthritic joints of large animals at clinically relevant depths, using nanoparticles with novel optical properties which enable unprecedented penetration depth and sensitivity. Arthritis is the most prevalent disease worldwide, with osteoarthritis (OA) affecting around 10% of the global population and around 70 million patients in Europe. There is no effective cure for OA at present and the majority of the treatments are symptomatic and not restorative. Stem cell therapy provides a unique opportunity for the self-regeneration of injured cartilage. One of the major hurdles in stem cell mediated-therapy is the inability to diagnose successful engraftment in real time using conventional imaging techniques. STARSTEM will address the major technology gaps to enable imaging of human stem cells at clinically relevant depths. STARSTEM is proposing the use of novel dual plasmonic gold nanostars (nanostars)-enhanced multi-modal imaging to detect stem cell engraftment and tissue repair, and thus their activity and efficacy as a therapy. STARSTEM will harness the best properties of light and sound with a photoacoustic (PA) imaging system for large animal and human finger imaging as proof-of-concept which exploits the unique advantages of our nanomaterial for differential and deep-tissue imaging. Functional imaging using PA enables the real time monitoring of engraftment and the therapeutic process at the site of interest, while highly sensitive anatomical imaging using MRI (using nanostar conjugated with magnetic nanoparticles as contrast agent) enables tracking of the movement and retention in individual organs of the transplanted cells that did not engraft. Algorithms for co-registered PA-MRI imaging approach will enable monitoring of the therapeutic process with high sensitivity. The overall imaging approach is designed to address small to large animal testing for efficacy and safety prior to clinical testing on humans.
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Coordinator: NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND GALWAY
Country: Ireland
Description: Dr Valentina Balbi is an Italian national, trained in Applied Mathematics in Italy and in Mechanics in France and at Stanford University. She publishes articles in high-impact factor journals, at the frontiers of applied mathematics and other disciplines. She is requesting funds for two years, to work with Professor Michel Destrade and join his group of Biomechanics at NUI Galway, Ireland.
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Coordinator: NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND GALWAY
Country: Ireland
Description: AUTOSTEM will develop closed, scaleable and automated systems for therapeutic cell manufacture. The project vision is a donor-to-patient system where all aspects of processing, from tissue harvest to patient delivery are fully closed and aseptic. The process will involve new methods of biological cell selection from marrow, fat or other tissues, bioreactors to achieve scale and media formulations that are fully xeno-free. Process monitoring will utilise remote sensing and the automated retrieval of cells for microscopy, flow cytometry, karyotyping, differentiation or other tests. The final product will be a cryobag containing a specified cell dose, ready for thawing and clinical delivery.
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Coordinator: NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND GALWAY
Country: Ireland
Description: BrainMatTrain focuses on a comprehensive understanding of Parkinson’s disease (PD), from basics to translation, fully supported by 8 full partners partner organisation (4 research institutions, 2 hospitals, 2 SMEs) and one partner organisation (SME specialist in device design). This ETN will educate and train 15 Earlty Stage Researchers (ESRs) in functioanlised biomaterials, materials science, functionlisation strategies, molecular biology, stem cell biology, in vitro model systems, in vivo neuroimaging, animal models and prototype design. Recruited ESRs will receive compulsory discipline-specific, generic and complementary transferable skills training. BrainMatTrain will develop multi-modal collagen reservoir scaffolds incorporating moieties targetitng the neuroinflammatoiry and neuroprotective phases of the underlying pathology of Parkinson’s disease. The researchers will undertake cross-disciplinary and intersectorial research projects, which when married together will deliver a novel, biomaterial-based, therapeutic device for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. The research training programme is designed to ensure high-calibre graduates, best placed to secure employment in the private or public sector. Fellows will experience both private and public sector research and development environments through a considered secondment plan.
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Coordinator: NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND GALWAY
Country: Ireland
Description: Disadvantaged youth in urban environments often experience marginalization and disenfranchisement that can lead to disastrous consequences for them, their families, and wider society. We know that successfully engaging these young men and women in the institutions, communities, and contexts in which they live and building their capacity as social actors can be a critical factor in their positive development as individuals and future role as citizens. Yet, there is still relatively little known empirically about the specific contexts, strategies, and mechanisms through which disadvantaged urban youth can be most effectively engaged. This research is designed to develop the expertise of the experienced researcher to enable him to contribute much needed in-depth knowledge of how best to engage young people as citizens both civic and political actors with autonomy and responsibility for contributing to the common good. This work will be done through a comparative case study in three Irish cities. The methodology will involve a consultative process with designated stakeholders in each city including local politicians, policy leaders, service providers, service users, youth representatives and youth workers. It will involve field observations and interviews with young men and women in three selected case study cities, each having a distinct urban identity: Large multi-cultural (Dublin); Post-Conflict ( Belfast) and Smaller Regional City (Galway). Dissemination and Public Engagement are central to this proposal. The research will impact on the participating stakeholders by providing tangible and accessible research findings. It will impact on the field of urban youth studies by offering a comparative framework applicable to other urban contexts in Europe and globally. The impact for the experienced researcher will be the development of specific expertise with a view to developing further European and global studies of this important field.
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Coordinator: NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND GALWAY
Country: Ireland
Description: Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease characterised by high blood glucose due to inadequate insulin production and/or insulin resistance which affects 382 million people worldwide. Pancreatic islet transplantation is an extremely promising cure for insulin-sensitive diabetes mellitus (ISDM), but side effects of lifelong systemic immunosuppressive therapy, short supply of donor islets and their poor survival and efficacy in the portal vein limit the application of the current clinical procedure to the most at-risk brittle Type I diabetes (T1D) sufferers. The DRIVE consortium will develop a novel suite of bio-interactive hydrogels (β-Gel) and on-demand drug release systems to deliver islets in a protective macrocapsule (β-Shell) to the peritoneum with targeted deposition using a specialised injection catheter (β-Cath). Pancreatic islets will be microencapsulated in β-Gels; biofunctionalised injectable hydrogels containing immunosuppressive agents and polymeric microparticles with tuneable degradation profiles for localised delivery of efficacy cues. These β-Gels will be housed in a porous retrievable macrocapsule, β-Shell, for added retention, engraftment, oxygenation, vascularisation and immunoprotection of the islets. A minimally invasive laparoscopic procedure (O-Fold) will be used to create an omental fold and at the same time deliver β-Shell. An extended residence time in β-Gel will enhance long-term clinical efficacy of the islets and result in improved glycemic control. The novel β-Gels will also be developed as human three-dimensional in-vitro models of in-vivo behaviour. Islet harvesting and preservation technologies will be developed to facilitate their optimised yield, safe handling and transport, and ease of storage. DRIVE will also enable the future treatment of a broader range of T1 and insulin-sensitive T2 diabetics by working with induced pluripotent stem cell experts to ensure the compatibility of our system with future stem cell sources of β-cells.
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Coordinator: NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND GALWAY
Country: Ireland
Description: Despite the proliferation of IoT and smart cities testbeds, there is still no easy way to conduct large scale experiments that leverage data and resources from multiple geographically and administratively distributed IoT platforms. Recent advances in IoT semantic interoperability provide a sound basis for implementing novel cloud-based infrastructures that could allow testbed-agnostic access to IoT data and resources. FIESTA will open new horizons in IoT experimentation at a global scale, based on the interconnection and interoperability of diverse IoT testbeds. FIESTA will produce a first-of-a-kind blueprint experimental infrastructure (tools, techniques and best practices) enabling testbed operators to interconnect their facilities in an interoperable way, while at the same time facilitating researchers in deploying integrated experiments, which seamlessly transcend the boundaries of multiple IoT platforms. FIESTA will be validated and evaluated based on the interconnection of four testbeds (in Spain, UK, France and Korea), as well as based on the execution of novel experiments in the areas of mobile crowd-sensing, IoT applications portability, and dynamic intelligent discovery of IoT resources.
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Coordinator: NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND GALWAY
Country: Ireland
Description: MedTrain is a new Industry-Academia Training, Career Development, and Mobility Fellowship Programme in Medical Device Research and Development at CÚRAM. CÚRAM, the national Centre for Research in Medical Devices, is a distributed research centre, headquartered in the National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG), and composed of multiple academic partners from around Ireland (NUIG, University College Dublin (UCD), University College Cork (UCC), Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), Molecular Medicine Ireland) and 35\ industry partners. MedTrain will offer 31 prestigious two-year postdoctoral fellowships for incoming mobility to eligible Experienced Researchers in the area of Medical Device Research and Development across two calls. Experienced researchers, by definition under Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), are those in possession of a doctoral degree (or at least four years full-time equivalent research experience) at the time of the recruitment by the host organisation. Fellowships must comply with the MSCA mobility rule. Career breaks will be taken into account. Fellowships are open to candidates of any nationality who shall not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Ireland for more than 12 months in the three years immediately prior to the time of recruitment by the host organisation. Compulsory national service and/or short stays such as holidays are not taken into account. MedTrain is based on individual-driven mobility, meaning that fellows will have the freedom to choose their research area (provided it falls within the remit of CÚRAM), their supervisor and their secondment organisation. Fellows will be hosted in a CÚRAM academic host organisation (NUIG, UCC, UCD, RCSI) and will second to a suitable research performing organisation in the non-academic sector, located in any country in the world appropriate to meet the needs of the fellows’ research, training and career development requirements.
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Coordinator: NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND GALWAY
Country: Ireland
Description: Dr. Kevin Buckley (KB) was awarded his PhD from University College London (UCL) in 2011. At UCL he had worked to develop Raman spectroscopy as a tool for bone-disease diagnosis and he subsequently took a position as a Laser Spectroscopy Scientist, at the Rutherford Appleton Lab (RAL) in Oxfordshire, England, to continue this work. After leaving RAL, KB moved to the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada. At UBC he worked to develop a Raman spectroscopy-based instrument for detecting chemical changes in (donated) human red blood cells as they age in plastic blood-bags. He has recently (Aug 2015) returned to his home country of Ireland and the primary aim of the proposed Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship is to reintegrate him with the research community there. The primary scientific objectives of the fellowship to develop novel analytical methods based on Spatially Offset Raman Spectroscopy (SORS) for applications in biopharmaceutical manufacturing. It is proposed that this interdisciplinary research take place under the supervision of Dr. Alan Ryder (AR) in the Nanoscale Biophotonics Lab (NBL) at the National University of Ireland, Galway. The combination of KB’s SORS expertise with AR’s biopharma expertise has the potential to deliver innovative science; KB is one of the few researchers in the world who has years of experience with SORS of complex materials (he trained under the inventor of SORS, Prof. P. Matousek FRSC, at RAL) and AR is an international leader in the development of quantitative analytical methods for biopharmaceutical manufacturing processes. In addition to scientific objectives, the fellowship programme has been designed to develop KB’s career and enhance his ability as a scientist. He will be provided with opportunities to develop academic teaching skills and will prepare a specific career development strategy. AR will also mentor KB as he prepares post-fellowship grant proposals and begins his independent academic career.
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Coordinator: NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND GALWAY
Country: Ireland
Description: An experienced researcher with laboratory expertise in real time monitoring of laser-matter-ambient-interactions will be diversified towards scalable production which is desperately needed to fully realise the potential of high repetition rate, multi-kiloWatt, femtosecond and picoseconds laser technologies. The fabrication of integrated multifunctional thin film devices by additive (inkjet, spray) and subtractive (laser) manufacturing on Roll to Roll (R2R) production platforms is also suddenly possible and desperately needed to transform the competitiveness of Europe’s SME manufacturing sector. The training programme will lead to scalable innovation by developing diagnostics for ultra-precision laser processes. The initial objective of the project is to identify which intersecting value chains for real time or in-line diagnostics can fully realise the potential of short pulse laser structuring. Three diagnostics based on gated (i) spectral analysis of laser generated plasma plumes, (ii) image analysis of laser material ambient interactions and (iii) laser induced breakdown spectroscopy will be developed. The Fellow will demonstrate two process diagnostics using the R2R pilot line at the industry site. The application of these on-line tools will create pathways for cost effective production based on new nano-inspired materials relevant to flexible large area electronics. The multi-partner training environment provides excellent facilities for the talented ambitious Fellow. Over 30\ researchers will be directly impacted by the project. An active programme of knowledge transfer and information dissemination is also proposed based on industrial workshop, active conference participation, journal publications, and science promotion.
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Coordinator: NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND GALWAY
Country: Ireland
Description: The European Union (EU) faces a growing health security threat posed by pandemics due to the convergence of risk factors driving disease emergence, amplification and dissemination of pathogens with pandemic potential. Protecting the health and security of citizens in the EU in the face of these pandemic threats requires a coherent response by all stakeholders driven by effective pandemic risk management.
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Coordinator: NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND GALWAY
Country: Ireland
Description: Dr. Leila Tabrizi, an Iranian national, is making an application to this programme to carry out a 24 months project in the area of medicinal chemistry in the group of Dr. A. Erxleben at the National University of Ireland, Galway.
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Group: Projects completed before 1 January 2021
Coordinator: NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND GALWAY
Country: Ireland
Description: The overall goal of ROCSAFE is to fundamentally change how CBRNe events are assessed, in order to and ensure the safety of crime scene investigators by reducing the need for them to enter high-risk scenes when they have to determine the nature of threats and gather forensics.
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Coordinator: NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND GALWAY
Country: Ireland
Description: The dielectric properties of biological tissues are of fundamental importance to the understanding of the interaction of electromagnetic fields with the human body. These properties are used to determine the safety of electronic devices, and in the design, development and refinement of electromagnetic medical imaging and therapeutic devices. Many historical studies have aimed to establish the dielectric properties of a broad range of tissues. A growing number of recent studies have sought to more accurately estimate these dielectric properties by standardising measurement procedures, and in some cases, measuring the dielectric properties in-vivo. However, these studies have often produced results in direct conflict with historical studies, casting doubt on the accuracy of the currently utilised dielectric properties. At best, this uncertainty could significantly delay the development of electromagnetic imaging or therapeutic medical devices. At worst, the health dangers of electromagnetic radiation could be under-estimated. The applicant will embark upon frontier research to develop improved methods and standards for the measurement of the dielectric properties of biological tissue. The research programme will accelerate the design and development of electromagnetic imaging and therapeutic devices, at a time when the technology is gaining significant momentum. The primary objective of the research is to develop a deep understanding of the fundamental factors which contribute to errors in dielectric property measurement. These factors will include in-vivo/ex-vivo measurements and dielectric measurement method used, amongst many others. Secondly, a new open-access repository of dielectric measurements will be created based on a greatly enhanced understanding of the mechanisms underlying dielectric property measurement. Finally, new electromagnetic-based imaging and therapeutic medical devices will be investigated, based on the solid foundation of dielectric data.
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Group: Projects completed before 1 January 2021
Coordinator: NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND GALWAY
Country: Ireland
Description: This action proposes mobility for an Italian researcher living in Britain to work in Ireland on a transnational historico-literary project. Her research focuses on the cross-cultural transfer of cheap print between Britain and Italy in the first half of the nineteenth century. The project advances existing knowledge of popular publishing and reading in two ways. Firstly, it contributes to the European historiography of cheap publications by extending the investigation of their production, distribution and reception to the Italian context. Secondly, and most importantly, it provides a concrete idea of the cross-cultural nature of cheap literature by exploring the mechanisms which regulate its migration from one linguistic and cultural realm to another. The transnational trajectory of cheap print is investigated with a focus on translation and on its potential to establish fruitful negotiations between the literary and cultural repertoires of the source and the target context. The project examines a corpus of chapbooks translated from English into Italian published between 1800 and 1850. The Italian chapbooks and their sources are analysed using an interdisciplinary approach which integrates theories of textuality, the history of the book and of reading, and translation studies. The comparative approach followed in my study will significantly enhance our understanding of popular literature and of the processes which led to the formation of a shared European heritage of popular culture. The multidisciplinary research environment at NUIG provides the ideal conditions for the researcher to develop this project and the skills necessary for her future academic career. The collaboration of Dr Niall Ó Ciosáin and the training that she will undertake in the history of the book will be particularly important to integrate her familiarity with translation and the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Italian cultural context with new knowledge of popular publishing and reading.
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Coordinator: NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND GALWAY
Country: Ireland
Description: Hypertension is a leading risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD) globally, accounting for 25-35% of the population-attributable fraction. Sodium (salt) intake is a key determinant of blood pressure, and reducing sodium intake has emerged as an important target for population-based interventions to prevent CVD. However, there is considerable uncertainty about the optimal level of sodium (salt) intake that is associated with lowest CVD risk, and whether optimal levels differ for different populations and individuals. In this proposal, we will answer key fundamental research questions about the association of sodium intake with blood pressure and CVD risk. Our research challenges current guideline recommendations of low-sodium intake for all populations. Specifically, we will: a) determine whether sustained (long-term) low sodium intake is associated with beneficial (or adverse) effects on established and novel CV biomarkers. b) explore whether inter-daily ‘pattern’ of sodium intake is an important determinant of 24-hour blood pressure pattern; c) determine whether the association between sodium intake and CVD varies by ethnicity, sex, age, other dietary factors (e.g. potassium intake), or other factors in 2 large international epidemiologic studies (PURE and INTERSTROKE; n>125,000 individuals). d) quantify the population-attributable fraction of excess sodium intake on global burden of CVD (stroke, myocardial infarction, heart failure and CV death), and model the potential impact of various population-based approaches to reducing sodium intake; e) determine whether sodium intake is associated with other vascular-related clinical conditions, namely including atrial fibrillation, cognitive impairment and falls (providing novel information); f) determine whether genetic variants associated with ‘salt sensitivity’ and hypertension are association with blood pressure and stroke, and whether these associations are modified by sodium intake.
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Group: Projects completed before 1 January 2021
Coordinator: NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND GALWAY
Country: Ireland
Description: Water, oxygen, and sunlight are essential to most forms of life, yet they also represent a challenging environment for the genetic material as they drive reactions that lead to damage of DNA. To ensure cell survival, an elaborate response to DNA damage maintains genome integrity. Until recently, the DNA damage response (DDR) was described as a wave of protein posttranslational modifications that signal the presence of DNA damage to the cell and mobilize enzymatic repair pathways. Recently, genome-wide screens and advances in next-generation sequencing (NGS) shed light on the role of RNA-binding proteins and non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) in the DDR. A novel class of small ncRNAs produced from the vicinity of DNA double strand breaks (DSB) – DNA damage-inducible ncRNAs (diRNAs) - were identified in plants, flies, and mammals. Our understanding of the biogenesis of diRNAs and their role in DSB repair is currently limited by the lack of methods for their detection that can be implemented in every laboratory. The aim of this project is to close this technological gap by developing robust and versatile methods of analysis of diRNA biogenesis. Our original approach consists to map diRNAs using NGS technology at site-specific DSBs inducible by an endonuclease, and to create the first database of human diRNAs. The knowledge of the sequences of diRNAs will allow us to develop methods for detection of both precursor and mature diRNAs. To identify novel players of the diRNA biogenesis pathway, we will perform a small-scale siRNA-based screen of RNA-binding proteins using the developed methods. This study will lead to important technological and knowledge-based developments in the DDR field, and to a better understanding of how the “non-coding” genome regulates important cellular functions.
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Coordinator: NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND GALWAY
Country: Ireland
Description: The goal of AFEL (Analytics for Everyday Learning) is to develop, pilot and evaluate methods and applications, which advance informal/collective learning as it surfaces implicitly in online social environments. The project is following a multi-disciplinary, industry-driven approach to the analysis and understanding of learner data in order to personalize, accelerate and improve informal learning processes. Learning Analytics and Educational Data Mining traditionally relate to the analysis and exploration of data coming from learning environments, especially to understand learners' behaviours. However, studies have for a long time demonstrated that learning activities happen outside of formal educational platforms, also. This includes informal and collective learning usually associated, as a side effect, with other (social) environments and activities. Relying on real data from a commercially available platform, the aim of AFEL is to provide and validate the technological grounding and tools for exploiting learning analytics on such learning activities. This will be achieve in relation to cognitive models of learning and collaboration, which are necessary to the understanding of loosely defined learning processes in online social environments. Applying the skills available in the consortium to a concrete set of live, industrial online social environments, AFEL will tackle the main challenges of informal learning analytics through 1) developing the tools and techniques necessary to capture information about learning activities from (not necessarily educational) online social environments; 2) creating methods for the analysis of such informal learning data, based on combining visual analytics with cognitive models of learning and collaboration; and 3) demonstrating the potential of the approach in improving the understanding of informal learning, and the way it is better supported; 4) evaluate all the former items in real world large scale applications and platforms.
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Coordinator: NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND GALWAY
Country: Ireland
Description: The PATHSENSE (Pathogen Sensing) ETN will bring together an interdisciplinary team of world-leading researchers from Europe to tackle a highly ambitious scientific project, focusing on the molecular mechanisms of sensory perception in bacterial pathogens. PATHSENSE will establish an innovative doctoral training programme that will deliver 13 PhD graduates and high-impact scientific outputs. The relationship between molecular structures and biological function is central to understanding any living system; however the research methodologies required to unravel these relationships are often complex and fast-changing. The team participating in this Network has the infrastructure and track-record to train ESRs in these state-of-the art methodologies, including structural biology, proteomics & protein biochemistry, molecular biology, bacterial genetics, food microbiology, mathematical modelling, cell biology, microscopy and comparative genomics. PATHSENSE will investigate the poorly understood structure-function relationships that exist within a large multi-protein complex called a “stressosome”, which acts as a sensory organelle in bacteria. The project will involve extensive inter-sectoral mobility of the ESRs across 7 EU countries to make full use of the complementary skills available at each of the hosting institutions. The inter-sectoral Network comprises 8 leading Universities, 1 public research institution, 4 companies (from spin-off to large multi-national) and 1 governmental agency. A major objective of this Network will be to exploit the fundamental research to develop novel antimicrobial treatments that have applications in the food and public health sectors. This project will deliver high-impact science, 13 highly-trained innovative researchers and will produce a long-lasting inter-sectoral network of collaborators who will continue to work together to exploit fundamental research for the socio-economic benefit of Europe.
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Coordinator: NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND GALWAY
Country: Ireland
Description: One of the challenges identified under Horizon 2020 is the building of a sustainable agri-food industry. Agricultural pests such as slugs are major contributors to financial losses in the farming sector and the use of pesticides, which is currently the mainstay of control, is an unsustainable management option due to their toxicity to non-target species and consumers but also because of their cost and variable efficacy. Biocontrol poses a more sustainable approach to pest control, but the only commercially available agent against slugs is the nematode Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita which is ineffective against a number of key pest species, has a short shell life and is not permitted in countries outside of Europe (e.g. USA). CaraSlug aims to assess the potential of native carabid species as biocontrol agents against slug pests in Oregon and Ireland. For the first time, high-throughput sequencing and real-time PCR will be used in combination to analyse the gut contents of carabids collected over one year from vulnerable crops. Carabid species which are found to feed extensively on slugs and are abundant in crops at times when major slug damage occurs will be selected for feeding trials in the laboratory to further understand their feeding behaviour and biocontrol potential. By comparing the abundance of both pest and predator species and by determining the availability of alternative prey in differently managed crops e.g. with and without beetle banks over a year, management systems which provide optimum conditions for malacophagous carabid species will be identified. This project is interdisciplinary, combining ‘classic’ ecology and environmental management approaches with the latest advances in molecular biology and both the experienced researcher and the hosts will benefit greatly from the combined team’s expertise. By directly involving farmers in our research, this project will also form an important link between academia and the community.
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Group: Projects completed before 1 January 2021
Coordinator: NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND GALWAY
Country: Ireland
Page 1 of 1 (25 Total Results)
